Ten Things I Miss about Dumb Phones

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After switching recently from a dumb phone to a smart one, I noticed some things that I didn’t fully appreciate while having a dumb phone. Sure, having the Internet and tons of apps at my fingertips is convenient, but the sentimental part of me misses my little red phone. Here’s why:

1. Simple. When you have a dumb phone, it’s a fact that you can’t go online and download a million apps. With my red phone, I could check my messages and call people; that was it. There was no need to be constantly checking 546 different accounts and hearing a ping every three minutes.

2. Taking breaks. Because my phone was so simple, I could take “technology breaks” whenever. At the end of the night, I’d turn off my computer and put my phone aside, knowing that I couldn’t check everything on it anyway. If my phone missed text messages or dropped calls (which, as an older phone, it was prone to do), it wasn’t a big deal: I’d mention that I had an old phone and all was forgiven.

3. Unbreakable. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dropped my dumb phone—but I can tell you it’s cringeworthy. To others, watching the back come off and the SIM card fall out was horrifying; to me, it was just another 30 seconds spent putting my phone back together. I’ll take that instead of two hours in the Apple store any day.

4. Less procrastination. When I had to read or do laundry, I would turn my computer off and get going. Procrastinating on my phone was undoable, since a) I’d already read all the messages and b) I hate checking my voicemail.

5. Losing it. Besides breaking my phone a lot, I lost it. All. The. Time. The good thing? I knew that it was a cheap phone (in other words, not too big of a problem if I didn’t find it again) and that no one in their right mind would steal it. Also, because I didn’t have apps or logins on my phone, it wasn’t too inconvenient when I lost it.

6. Physical keyboard. Adjusting to a screen keyboard is tough for a traditionalist like me; I love being able to use a physical keyboard, especially since my fingers aren’t particularly graceful. Oh well, c’est la vie.

7. Socializing. One of my pet peeves is when someone pulls out their phone while you’re talking with them, or worse, everyone at a social event uses their phones during an awkward silence. My dumb phone forced me to look people in the eye and talk to them (!), because heaven knows you can’t pretend to be doing something on a dumb phone forever.

8. Small. Perhaps the best thing about my phone was how small it was—it could fit easily in my pocket, backpack, or anywhere else I needed it to be. I’ve heard of other Ursuline girls who can’t put their phones in their frockets, and unfortunately now I’m part of this group.

When I first switched over to a smart phone, I thought there would be no negative sides to having one, but gradually I discovered that wasn’t quite the case. What do you like about your phone? How would you want it to be different?